The contenders

I bought six brands of sriracha and sacrificed a precious portion of my dwindling Huy Fong Sriracha for science:

🖼️	Product	Origin	Price
	Huy Fong Foods, Inc. Sriracha	Irwindale, CA, USA	inf
	Amazon/Whole Foods Ninja Squirrel	Austin, TX, USA	$4.79
	Lee Kum Kee Sriracha Chili Sauce	City of Industry, CA, USA	$5.99
	Yellowbird Organic Sriracha	San Marcos, TX, USA	$9.29(! And it’s so tiny)
	Shark Brand Sriracha Chili Sauce	Chon Buri, Thailand	$18.99(! This is a big bottle. But still.)
	MW Polar Sriracha Chili Sauce	Thailand	$3.83 (6-pack for $22.99—hope I like it 🤞)
	Sriraja Panich Sriracha Chili Sauce	Thailand	$3.98

Methods

On a very normal Friday night, I blindfolded myself and ate tater-tots.

I dispensed each sriracha into its own stainless-steel ramekin and assigned it a letter. This way, my steadfast assistant would remain unaware which sriracha was which, ensuring the validity of my results.

Between srirachas, I cleansed my palate using plant-powered protein tortillas because ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

I ranked each sriracha from 1–10 using four criteria:

1. Garlic
2. Sweetness
3. Spiciness/heat
4. Overall flavor

Results

I forgot to guess which was Huy Fong Sriracha.

And, oddly, Huy Fong was the only sriracha I tasted without comment. I suppose I received a sriracha that tasted like Sriracha—what was there to say?

My “overall” ranking is more of “I like this” vs. “this is a good Huy Fong Sriracha substitute.”

Comments

First, I grew up on Doritos and Pizza Hut and this all opinion.

Second, some observations:

• The Thai brands were red-orange. American brands were dark red. The exception was Huy Fong Sriracha which was in between the two.
• The American brands were spicier.
• The Thai brands tasted like fermented garlic, an acquired taste, I guess, since I found it off-putting.

Brand-sepcific comments:

• Lee Kum Kee
  • “Sharp cayenne-pepper-type heat”
  • “Like spicy ketchup”
  • This was more like hot sauce than sriracha. But I like hot sauce, so.
• Huy Fong Foods, Inc – No comment.
• MW Polar
  • “Initially not very spicy, but heat builds”
  • “Garlic-y, but not how I want my garlic”
  • It seemed fishy. I think this is the flavor of fermented garlic.
• Yellowbird Organic
  • “This tastes like barbecue sauce”
  • Once I accepted this as expensive barbecue sauce, I liked it much better.
• Shark Brand
  • “This tastes like jarred garlic”
• Sriraja Panich
  • “Some up-front heat”
  • “This tastes like fishy garlic”
• Amazon/Whole Foods Ninja Squirrel
  • “Weird old sweetness, like molasses”

So it seems I’ve found some new condiments.

But Huy Fong Sriracha is still the only sriracha, at least to my dumb American palette.